The Mermaid and her Pirate
by TheNovelArtist
Summary: It's her job to heal the akuma: innocent people that The Sorcerer places under a spell in a moment of weakness. But fins make it a bit difficult to do by herself. For that, she needs a pirate. More specifically, she needs HER pirate.


Fire burned the surface world. From the rivers that flowed through the city, Ladybug swam to the heart of the commotion. Even the water couldn't mask the sound of screaming people as houses collapsed and trees toppled. She stopped every once in a while to peek out the surface, surveying the area for her target. Alas, he wasn't anywhere, so she was forced to keep swimming forward.

Something crashed into the water, hitting her and dragging her down to the bottom. Slipping out before she was pinned to the muddy river bottom, she turned to spy the stone pillar that had fallen into the water. However, what caught her eye was the sword that lay in the rubble. She must be close.

Bursting through the surface, she frantically surveyed the area. There were a few stragglers running through the chaos, desperate to escape to shelter. But no one else.

Slapping the water, Ladybug dove again, pressing deeper up into the city. She had to find her target. It was her sole mission in life, her sole purpose in this ruthless, lonely world.

The next time she broke the surface, the sounds of swords clashing greeted her. She cheered. He had to be nearby.

Pressing forward, her head above water, she searched for the battle. Her target had to be there. Without a doubt. When she rounded the sharp bend in the river, she saw it. The dueling men, some glowing purple, some not.

And then, on top of a stone wall in all his black-clothed, green-eyed glory, appeared the most fearsome face she knew. Chat Noir. His long-tailed, leather coat flapped with each precise movement as he carefully pranced along the edge of the wall, stalking the fight like a cat.

"The water, boys," he shouted. "The water is their weakness."

Even while he shouted commands at his crew, his focus was elsewhere. Surveying the area for his target. The same one that Ladybug herself was looking for.

He bolted off, not finding him anywhere. Ladybug followed in the shadows. Ladybug had a special place in the depths of her heart reserved for her hatred of pirates. But as she watched Chat Noir search after their target, she found she couldn't hate him. Not when he was a brave sort of scoundrel, one willing to risk his life for the safety of a village. And worst of all, she didn't hate herself for taking Chat Noir out of the realm sum of "most pirates." He was a strange man all his own.

Chat Noir had a knack for finding the akuma, which Ladybug greatly appreciated considering her fins limited her ability to assist in any other way. His crew could handle the Moths pretty well. Those ghosts disappear once the akuma was cleansed anyway.

The notorious pirate bounced across the rubble with surprising ease. There were many reasons he had earned his name, and his agility was one of them.

"Chat Noir!" the monstrous voice roared from across the river.

Chat Noir stopped in his tracks, staring down the unreal beast.

Stone. The monster was solid stone, surrounded by a glow of purple that akumas were known for. A twisted spirit, one called in a moment of anguish to serve The Sorcerer under the guise of receiving supernatural powers. Unholy in its entirety, on the wickeder side of the dark arts, yet so entirely tempting in such a weak moment.

The stone beast launched himself towards Chat Noir, swinging out at the nimble man. But Chat avoided all of it with natural ease.

"Is that all?" he mocked. "I was hoping your plan was a bit more _solid_ than that."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. Above all, the worst part of Chat Noir were his horrible puns.

As she watched Chat distract the stone monster, one who seemed avidly avoiding going near the water, she smacked the surface in irritation. She was helpless unless the akuma came close enough to the water for her to purify the victim. Until then, she was forced to watch from the sidelines.

It seemed like a sudden change in fighting style, but Ladybug recognized a plan when she saw one. And one that slowly but surely was working.

She swam over to the little rivulet, having to practically drag herself along the shallow stream, but if that was the only way to purify this victim, then she would have to do it.

The stone man followed Chat as he backed up across mass amounts of debris nearly to the water. Ladybug felt the sand slide underneath her as she pulled herself up the shallow rivulet to the underside of the wooden makeshift bridge. The one the monster was marching across.

Suddenly, Chat Noir unsheathed his sword and stuck it into the crack. With a twist, the wooden bridge crashed into the ground, sending the stone monster and Chat along with it.

But they crashed into the water, and that meant Ladybug could take care of the issue.

She pulled herself along the bank to where the stone monster collapsed in a heap. She grabbed the monster's arm, pulling herself close to the monster before reversing the dark magic cast upon him. "Miraculous."

Her body glowed bright pink, and the light slowly crawled across the stone monster, engulfing him entirely. The light flashed as dark smoke wafted up towards the sky, the dark magic being purged from the monster's body. The more smoke that was purged, the smaller the monster got, shifting, morphing and changing until no dark magic was left, and the miraculous magic dissipated.

Leaving behind an innocent man who had been the unfortunate victim.

Ladybug was left breathing hard, and the man was left unconscious. He would be for a while, too. The spell was draining for both mermaid and victim. She looked him over for any other injuries, but when she saw none, she knew she needed to leave.

Only the water was gone.

She gasped, her heart pounding. The rivulet she had used to meet the monster had been blocked by the dam that had allowed her to get to him. Leaving her high and dry.

The sound of shouting came to her, and she knew one way or another, she had to get back to water. She didn't know what they'd do to her, but she'd heard the horror stories. Ones where mermaids were sold among the humans as rarities. Some were sold in pieces, cut apart so their scales and fins could be displayed. Some were sold alive and used as personal pleasure objects. And she really didn't know which one was worse.

She pulled herself along the shallow channel where the rivulet had run, using her tail as much as possible to push herself forward while she clawed at the sand. But she wasn't going to get far at this rate. She still had a long way to go.

Suddenly, a set of arms wrapped around her waist, and she was being lifted up into the air. She gasped, and a hand came up over her mouth before she could scream. With her tail free, she thrashed around, smacking the ground and making her as difficult as possible to hold.

"Knock it off," the voice said. "I'm trying to help you."

But she didn't, she kept twisting and squirming in his hold.

"Stop!" he hissed. He fell to his knees, dropping her in the process.

She squirmed away as fast as possible, dragging herself along to the water that was still so far away.

But arms grabbed her once again, but now she was being pulled along by her arms, down the channel, and to the water.

She glanced up at her captor, and the blonde hair that hung over his eyes was familiar.

Chat Noir.

They were closing the distance quickly between them ant the water of the river, the one that would reach the ocean. And that's when she realized he wasn't lying. He was really trying to help her. She squirmed, but this time, she was trying to push herself forward, trying to help him to the river.

"Oh, so you're going to help now," he said, sarcastic yet teasing. He picked her up in his arms once again, and they moved quickly towards the river. His boots splashed in the puddles as they neared the water, then he waded into the river up to knees. That's when he let her go, and she started swimming.

The voices were close, now, and it sounded like they were calling for their captain. She needed to go, back to the ocean and far away from here, but she couldn't help but look back. The blonde hair shone in the night in contrast to the black he wore. He watched the river, hands on his hips and breathing hard, his eyes focused on her. Then, he tilted his chin upward in parting before marching out of the river and finding his way back up to dry land.

She watched him in awe. It was in that moment that it hit her: he knew her secret. And he was on her side.

She dove back into the water and quickly made her way back to the ocean. She always knew there was something different about Chat Noir. Now, she realized that Chat Noir didn't fall under the realm of most pirates, or even most people. He was her pirate, her partner in saving the manipulated.

And she couldn't bring herself to hate that.


End file.
